Crutch? Iron sights are a crutch if you think about it. Anything that you use to make a job easier can be called a crutch if you want to give it a negative connotation, or called and "aid" (which a crutch is an aid) if you want to give it a positive connotation. It all depends on knowing how to use the tool properly and how you perceive using it.
Many professionals rely on batteries and circuits every day. There are good products and there are poorly made products, be that for electronics, guns, ammo, etc.
I do think lasers have a more limited use than many people perceive them to have. Folks often have the impression from TV that lasers work really well in broad daylight, that bad guys know when laser dots are on them, and that a dot on a bad guy always is very stable even from long distance free held guns, and these are not realistic perceptions most of the time.